Jesus and the Old Testament

How did Jesus view scripture? In Matthew 5:17-18, Jesus says that he has not come to do away with scripture, but to fulfill it. Obviously he held what we call the Old Testament in high regard. What we have to realize, however, is that Jesus didn't stop there. What he actually did was not only fulfill scripture, but build on it.

The ancient law says one thing, but Jesus says another; what he says is not identical with what the ancient law had said. "I say to you" is a clear assumption by Jesus of authority over the law. He is not simply explaining the law...he is saying something that he considers to be new, to go beyond what the law itself had to say. It is precisely because this was his intention that he warned his hearers in advance that his purpose was not to abolish the law. (James Barr, Beyond Fundamentalism, 9)

Jesus used scripture as a source for his teachings, but he also made up his own stories. We call them parables and we all know these were a hallmark of Jesus' teachings.

Teaching by parable is almost the opposite of expounding scripture. The parable does not begin from a "text" in scripture, but from some observation in real life, often vastly exaggerated..." (Ibid., 12)

The point here is that the Old Testament was authoritative for Jesus and writers of the New Testament, but it was not the only source of their teachings. In reality, what we often see is that they used scripture as a springboard to further investigate the kingdom life that Jesus proclaimed.

It may also be significant that Jesus never instructed anyone to write a New Testament. He never told anybody (that we know of) to write down accounts of his words or deeds. What he actually did say was that the Holy Spirit would "teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you." (John 14:15-16)

I think it is a good thing that we have preserved the letters of Paul and the accounts of Jesus' life! Without these written documents the message would have undoubtedly become warped over the centuries. In fact, we could probably agree to the fact that the message of the gospel has often become warped regardless of the existence of scripture. The point, however, is that we tend to emphasize the use of scripture in ways that Jesus himself did not.

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Links to the rest of this series: Understanding Scripture, Jesus and the Old Testament, Prophecy, What Counts as Scripture?, Fuller's Statement of Beliefs, How Was Scripture Written?, The LXX, What If?, Conclusions 

Comments

[r]

Can you give an example of how the new testement writers used old testement scripture as a springboard to further investigate the kingdom life?

[Bill]

To R:

The following is an excerpt from a paper I wrote recently that hopefully provides a good example and explanation of what I'm talking about:

In 1 Corithians 1-11, Paul says that Israel’s story serves as an “example” for the Corinthian church. The word translated as “example” in the NRSV is tupikos, which is related to the English word “type.” In other words, this story (from Exodus 32) gives guidance to the future church in an indirect way. Paul begins 1 Corinthians 10 by calling his Greek audience “brothers and sisters” and then asking them to consider stories about their “ancestors.” These are not, of course, the literal ancestors of the people in the Corinthian church. Paul is drawing them into a story and he wants them to see a direct “family” connection. This is no longer a story about a Jewish people, but a heritage of faith for all those who follow Christ. “Within Paul’s symbolic world, they are no longer among the goyim, because they have been taken up into the story of Israel.” (Richard Hays, Conversion of the Imagination, 9)

This story is more inferred than quoted directly. The only direct quote in this passage is found in verse 7, which is referring to Exodus 32:6. The rest of the passage alludes to events from Israel’s past in a non-literal way. As Richard Hays points out, Paul does not mean “that Moses passed out baptismal certificates or that theologians should debate whether Christ was igneous, metamorphic, or sedimentary.” (Richard Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul, 91) Paul is applying these Old Testament narratives in imaginative ways to the life of the church. The passage through the Red Sea is a type for the baptism that the church now experiences. The rock from which water sprang is a type for Christ. The Corinthian church lives at a different moment in time than ancient Israel, yet they are “in identical relation to the same gracious and righteous God.” (Echoes of Scripture, 99)

[Laura]

"The point here is that the Old Testament was authoritative for Jesus and writers of the New Testament, but it was not the only source of their teachings."

I guess I would contend that the OT was the source of their teachings in that what they taught was drawn from their exegesis of the OT. I wonder how this notion compares with "source".